This program project builds on and expands the research conducted in the RAND Corporation's previous NIA program project by renewing it for five years with a focus on the intersection of health and economic status. The research conducted within the program project will contribute to the following long-range goals: understanding how health and socio-economic status are related in older populations, how those relations are influenced by the institutional structures put in place by different nations, how wealth accumulation and savings behavior change in response to events, and how housing ownership is influenced by risk, as well as contributing to the improvement of public policies intended to enhance the health and wealth of the elderly population. As did its predecessor projects at RAND, this program project will have an international scope; researchers will examine societies that have some socio-economic similarities to that of the United States but with differing institutional contexts. The program project will include seven component projects on these topics: consumption dynamics near and after retirement, socio-economic status and health, comparing work disability across countries, institutional effects on health and economic status, causes and consequences of obesity among the elderly, expectations and realizations of retirement benefits, and housing price risk, home ownership, and wealth. The program project also includes an administrative core and a data management and computing core. These two cores and the program project approach that unites all components will permit efficiencies in research support and facilitate interaction with researchers elsewhere while attracting young researchers to the study of aging issues. Project staff conserves the expertise accumulated through the predecessor program projects and includes researchers who assisted in collecting some of the datasets to be used----experience that enhances understanding of the data's potential and limitations.